Every significant development expands the ways of human interaction. Those new ways should be legally framed to keep our society under regulation. But what about digital affairs? The first months of the NFT boom revealed an urgent need for digital lawyers to read smart contracts, defend copyrights for crypto art and explain how to pay taxes on digital profits properly.
Now we spot an even more digitized scope – a metaverse. If a person becomes a victim of an aviation disaster or business fraud, they seek legal assistance from law companies like Pusch & Nguyen.
What is a metaverse, and why should you pay attention to it?
Source: forbes.com
A metaverse is a universe that exists beyond the physical world. In fact, any digital space can be considered a metaverse: social media, work platforms, etc. The point of metaverses is to create a super-reality that functions parallel to the real world. Everything that limits us or seems unrealistic for our everyday life can happen here, violating any laws and rules. There are no limits both in physics and, let’s say, morality. After the full-fledged metaverse implementation, metaverse attorneys will definitely have a job.
What is its current state? A metaverse is an effective tool that people around the world already use for things like:
- Work and education. The digitalization of these fields became especially relevant during the covid pandemic. Many people were forced to switch to online education, remote jobs, and give up personal meetings. In a metaverse, all meetings are physically separated but virtually personal. A metaverse attorney will have an even more significant role than a physical one.
- Medicine. A meta doctor might use AI, which allows them to make a more accurate diagnosis based not only on practical experience. A metaverse brings huge benefits to both a doctor and a patient. The blockchain keeps all admission data unchanged, so no one can delete or view the patient’s diagnoses except them and their doctor. Thus, no one can change a patient’s medical history or take over the doctor’s job.
- Web stores. A few decades ago, online shopping was something out of this world. Now it’s a routine practice. However, metaverses can push it even further – you can check how, for example, clothing fits you right on your phone even before delivery. The same goes for more fundamental things like repairs – it would be basically like The Sims game.
- Entertainment. Metaverses is a logical extension of the entertainment industry. Metaverses arguably arise thanks to gamers (like most consumer hardware that then benefit science missions). Games are the ultimate use case for metaverses, as their limitations are clearly undesirable. But it’s not about games only – humans have a lot of needs that can be fulfilled in a metaverse (at least at some scale).
- Gray niches. A darknet and a metaverse are an explosive mixture. While we are all against illegal things, some attorneys might consider accompanying gray deals that promise sweet fees.
Source: hcltech.com
How to become a metaverse attorney?
Despite the abundance of online courses, it is still imperative for an attorney to study full-time. Not just for getting a diploma but for the experience that university teachers can pass on at lectures and seminars.
If you are already juridically skilled, you should focus on cybersecurity and digital law. This field is relatively new, with no comprehensive guidance. Thus, consider getting acquainted with the court practices of smart contracts and tokens. It is also worth noting the necessary skills for any attorney:
- the ability to express your thoughts correctly;
- communication skills with clients;
- the ability to search for information and analyze documents;
- study of judicial practices;
- excellent knowledge of laws, legal procedures, and regulations;
- and of course, a metaverse attorney has to understand how the blockchain, metaverse, smart contracts, and NFTs work.
What cases does a metaverse attorney deal with?
- Dispute resolution. Violation of copyright or any terms of a smart contract in the virtual world is a good reason for a lawsuit in reality. A metaverse attorney can act as a consultant to a judge, a lawyer, or an independent expert.
- Creation of NFT startups and DAO projects. This task is at the intersection of cryptocurrencies and reality. For many founders of digital companies and startups, it is important not only to open their businesses legally but also to minimize tax costs and possible legal restrictions. Besides, a metaverse attorney accompanies smart contracts, but it is more about DAO projects.
- Accompanying the purchase and sale of a property. Common smart contracts may well regulate the exchange of digital items for small amounts. However, a metaverse attorney is irreplaceable for contracts with additional conditions from both parties.
- Development of digital laws and smart contracts that would have a legal basis in the real world. This may require, as in real life, the work of not one attorney but a council of digital experts. So far, to prove your case in virtual reality, a person can go to real courts. But we can totally expect the resolution of such issues in a virtual court.
Source: lawyer-monthly.com
The prospects for a metaverse attorney
A metaverse attorney is not a new profession but a new stage in the development of jurisprudence. There are already private lawyers or small firms that specialize in digital tokens. For example, they help legally sell large amounts of digital property: paintings, land, real estate, digital clothing, and so on. Today, many people perceive digital property as reasonable long-term assets instead of considering it something fancy.
The scope of digital contracts is expanding with increasingly more people immersed in the metaverse. Despite the technological breakthrough over the last decades, digital space is yet to reveal its full potential. It’s literally limitless space that will cater to equally endless human needs. We should expect more types of interaction that require legal regulation. A metaverse attorney has many tasks ahead of them, the main one being to enforce all the rules, contracts, and laws in the digital space.
